Don't CALL your dog if you're going to correct him.

This is one of the most common mistakes made by dog owners.

If you call your dog ("Jake, come here, come.") and he comes to you, and you scold him or do anything unpleasant with him...

1. he will associate the sound "Come" with discomfort
2. and he will thereafter be reluctant to respond positively to that sound.

And don't try to fool your dog by adopting a wheedling, coaxing tone. "Come here, Jake, Mommy's not going to hurt you, come on, sweetheart."

If your dog follows his trusting nature and believes you -- and then discovers your deception -- he will not only distrust the word "Come", but also he will distrust YOU.

I'm glad you asked! Because that leads directly to my next topic....

Don't CHASE your dog.

When the trash barrel crashed to the kitchen floor, strewing garbage everywhere, Jake knew he was in trouble. Kathy was rushing toward him, hands outstretched. Jake feinted left, rushed right. The chase was on!

When they don't want to be caught, many dogs will dart just out of your reach, dive under the table, behind the sofa, and lead you on merry chases around the house.

Instead, you must "track him down" and you must do it silently. Here's exactly how you should do that.......

Hi, I have to interrupt your reading here so we can move on to another excerpt. If you buy the book, you'll be able to read the rest of this section on "Don't chase your dog" and discover my step-by-step method for catching your dog, silently, WITHOUT calling him or chasing him.

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Teach your dog to stay lying down for 30 minutes

Yes, 30 minutes!

In most obedience classes, your dog learns to lie down and stay for three minutes while you stand at the end of the leash. The problem is, in real life, this is useless!

Say you have guests over. After your dog greets people, you want him to go lie down and you certainly don't want to have to stand at the end of his leash while everyone else is having a good time! And three minutes is much too short a time to be helpful.

No, what you want is a dog who will lie down in a corner of the room, off leash. After awhile, you would of course allow him up to stretch, visit, go outside, etc. A reasonable time for him to remain down is a half hour or so.

Actually, he will. In fact, it's EASIER for him to stay lying down for 30 minutes than for 3 minutes. During a 3-minute down, he is waiting the whole time to get up. He watches you intently, shifts restlessly, tenses his muscles when you look in his direction. He is poised for the slightest sign that the three minutes are up.

How to teach the 30-minute "Long Down".........

In the book, I will walk you through my step by step method for teaching your dog to stay lying down for a half hour. This is SUCH an important exercise and I'd like to tell you why....

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Three reasons why the Long Down is one of the most valuable exercises you can teach your dog:

1. It's practical. Everyone, at one point or another, needs their dog to lie down and stay put.

   
   

2. It's calming. Your dog learns to settle down, to relax, to be patient. These qualities are especially important to instill and nurture in energetic or excitable dogs.
   

   
   

3. It's leadership. Your dog learns that sometimes he has to do something simply because you say so. Yes, it's a bit boring. He isn't being petted or cuddled or spoken to. He just has to lie there quietly, or go to sleep -- because YOU want him to.

   There is no better exercise than this one for establishing leadership with your dog!

"What happens when the 30 minutes are up?"

When the half hour is up, call out in a cheerful voice, "Okay, Jake!" and encourage your dog to get up. Unless he's a real couch potato who loves to sleep, it won't take much encouragement!

Otherwise he will almost certainly decide, on his own, to get up while you're busy elsewhere. You won't be able to correct him from a distance and he will have learned a bad lesson from that. So think ahead and release him first.

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Teach your dog to "Wait" inside the door or gate

WORD #64: "WAIT!"

Be honest --- has anything like this ever happened at your house?

"Watch out for the dog!" Kathy Armstrong cried. Her friend Mary Sue had just arrived for a visit. Mary Sue had started to pull open the screen door so she could come into the kitchen.

Spotting the crack of daylight, Kathy's dog Jake made a mad dash for it. Mary Sue leaped backwards and managed to slam the screen door an instant before Jake barreled into it, leaving yet another nose print in the battered black mesh.

Mary Sue looked down through the screen at the Armstrong's exuberant dog. "What a nuisance he is," she thought.

This behavior is unacceptable for two reasons:

First, it could cost your dog his life. If he gets through the door and spies another person or dog or cat or squirrel, he will very likely end up hit by a car. It happens all the time.

Second, it's unfair to your guests. Visitors shouldn't have to be paranoid about your dog barreling past them. As our dogs' guardians, WE have the responsibility of teaching them to stay put, even when a door or gate tempts them.

So here's a better story. Mary Sue had just arrived at her friend Kathy's house. When she started to pull open the screen door, Kathy's dog Jake bounded toward her.

But Kathy called out, "Jake WAIT!" and the exuberant dog skidded to a stop and stood in place, wriggling eagerly, waiting for her to come all the way in.

Mary Sue stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and looked down at Jake. "He's so well-behaved," she thought.

Here's how to teach "Wait".....

In the book, I will show you how to teach your dog to wait inside the house when the door opens. I'll show you how to teach him to Wait inside your YARD when the gate opens. I'll show you how to teach him to Wait inside your CAR when the car door opens. I'll show you how to teach him to Wait on one side of an open DOORWAY, such as the doorway between your kitchen and living room. I'll show you how to teach him to Wait at the top or bottom of the STAIRS. And much more!